Shivakumara Arehalli, a techie, who was accused of trying to kidnap a two-year-old child from the City Railway station, surrendered before a city magistrate’s court on November 22. But it turned out that the child in question was his and the complainant his mother-in-law. The court immediately granted him bail.

A family court advocate said, “As per the Guardians and Wards Act, the father is the natural guardian of minor children. A case of kidnapping his own child does not arise unless there is a restraining order under the Domestic Violence Act. Otherwise, it is no crime for the father to meet his children.”

However, the controversial issue of child support payments has been excluded and will be dealt with next year. It is now up to parliament to discuss the necessary legal amendments as part of an overhaul of the civil code.

“A first important step has been taken,” said Kathie Wiederkehr of the Foundation for the Protection of Children.

She is optimistic that parliament will accept the bill – bringing Switzerland in line with legislation in other European countries – as most political parties and pressure groups appear willing to end a long-running controversy.

1. In this writ petition the petitioner has prayed for a writ in the nature of certiorari to quash the order dated 1-1-2005 in G & WC No. 61/2004 passed by the 6th Additional City Civil Judge, Bangalore City, allowing I.A. No. 1 filed under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 CPC, I.A. No. 2 filed under Order 40 Rule 1 CPC, partly allowing I.A. No. 6 filed under Section 12 of the Guardians and Wards Act, disposing I.A. No. 5 filed under Section 12 of the Guardinas and Wards Act and rejecting I.A. No.3 filed under Section 12 of the Guardians and Wards Act.

This is an observation made by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Department of State, United States of America, in the context of the legal position in India vis-à-vis international parental child abduction.

In a recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India delivered on May 13, 2011 in the case of Ruchi Majoo v. Sanjeev Majoo, 2011 6 SCALE 290, a two-judge bench consisting of Justices V.S. Sirpurkar and T.S. Thakur, held that in cases concerning the custody of a child removed by its parent from a foreign country to India, Indian courts can retain jurisdiction to consider and determine custody, notwithstanding that such removal of the child (from where the parties had set up the matrimonial home) may be in contravention of the orders of the foreign court. Thus, jurisdiction of Indian courts is not ousted in cross-border child custody cases that involve parties who are foreign citizens or where there are prior decrees by a foreign court on the issue of custody. The Court further held that since the interests and welfare of the child were paramount, custody orders issued by foreign courts are not to be taken as conclusive and binding, but only as one of the factors for consideration that would go into the making of a final decision by an Indian court.

B.C.'s separation, child-custody law changes won't take effect for at least a year

Written by Rob Shaw And Lindsay Kines

Friday, 18 November 2011 10:00

Dramatic changes to B.C.'s separation and child-custody laws won't come into effect for more than a year, under legislation introduced Monday.

The provincial government officially unveiled its much-anticipated rewrite of the province's 33-year-old Family Relations Act. The bill, whose passage into law next week is all but assured, makes sweeping changes to provincial laws but won't take effect for between 12 and 18 months, Attorney-General Shirley Bond said.

In what was immediately denounced as a ‘betrayal’ of the family, a major report today rules against giving men shared or equal time with their children when a relationship ends. It suggests fathers will even be denied the legal right to maintain a ‘meaningful relationship’ with their families, as this ‘would do more harm than good’.

The review also kicks into touch Coalition pledges to make it easier to maintain contact with grandchildren when parents separate, a problem that usually affects those on the father’s side.

The long-awaited Family Justice Review was branded a ‘monstrous sham’ that undermines David Cameron’s pledge to lead the most family-friendly government in history.

IT WOULD have been unthinkable for Erik Wall to pass up the chance of becoming a full-time stay-at-home father, caring for his baby daughter and managing the household in his native Sweden, he says. The 33-year-old first-time father is availing of one of the world’s most equality-conscious parental leave systems – enabling parents to be off work for up to 480 days for each child, with a compulsory 60 days which each partner must take or lose all of the paid leave comparable to more than 80 per cent of their salaries while they are home.

"It is not always a matter of if the child likes or dislikes the new partner. Often it is the feelings that come along with this change that the children respond to," said Emily Ryan Smith, a social worker in Mobile, Ala.

"Children will have different emotional responses to family change based on the child's age, developmental stage and the presence of other life changes," she said. "Children often feel anxiety due to the uncertainty of the future. They may ask themselves, 'Where will we live? Will I have to share my room? Will I have to call him Dad? Where do I fit into this family?'"